Stripping my 1992 Excella Classic

[Re-Pete]

Just began stripping my 1992 Excella. I'm using Citristrip. I did the lower panel beneath the rear window as a test and I'm very pleased with the result. The Citristrip worked quickly and thoroughly on my test section. The decals, which had deteriorated and been partially and poorly removed by a PO when I purchased it in 2012, left noticeable lines which are still noticeable even after removing the finish.

Here are some questions for those whom have gone before me:

1) When removing emblems how did you seal the holes until you were ready to reinstall them?

2) Did you strip window trim the same as the body?

3) I have a full set of awnings. This is a polishing question.
A) Do the aluminum awning guards need to be stripped?
B) If so, do they need to be completely removed?

4) What's the best way to polish the cast aluminum emblems.

5) My front and rear cowl blue Airstream emblems seem to be rubber or similar. A) Is there a way to carefully remove them?
B) if not, can I find replacements?

These should get me started at least. Please chime in with anything important I've overlooked. I'm still on the fence regarding polishing, but the clear coat was already failing when we purchased our AS and I now have the time and perfect place with lots of shade for this project. A couple of pics follow:
Getting started:
After stripping and wipe off:

In the final pic I still had a small patch under the license plate holder I was retreating, but it was just scratches.

After the first treatment I did scrape with a plastic scraper, and then I retreated around all of the rivets and anywhere I thought might need it. But truthfully, the first treatment did a pretty through job and I think I could have wiped a lot of it off with a damp towel using mineral spirits, followed with water.

I'll post more as I progress.

Pete

[AlinCal]

Lets see....
1. Tape the holes
2. Yes
3A. the tube? mine did not have clearcoat and are anodized
3B. Not in my case
4. Did not polish mine, restored them to original by stripping the blue and repainting and then sanding the raised letters.
5A. Don't think they can be saved
5B. New ones available for $$ at any Airstream supply, Out of Doors Mart/ Silver Trailer Supply/ Inland RV?

Might be too late but I would not have polished mine had the skin condition been better, Strip and reclear with Nyalic was my plan A.
If you decide not to polish then be ultra careful removing the old clear, No plastic scrappers or anything that will scratch the delicate mill finish.

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by AlinCal

Lets see....
1. Tape the holes
2. Yes
3A. the tube? mine did not have clearcoat and are anodized
3B. Not in my case
4. Did not polish mine, restored them to original by stripping the blue and repainting and then sanding the raised letters.
5A. Don't think they can be saved
5B. New ones available for $$ at any Airstream supply, Out of Doors Mart/ Silver Trailer Supply/ Inland RV?

Might be too late but I would not have polished mine had the skin condition been better, Strip and reclear with Nyalic was my plan A.
If you decide not to polish then be ultra careful removing the old clear, No plastic scrappers or anything that will scratch the delicate mill finish.

Thanks AlinCal.
I appreciate your help and the time you've spent doing it. Yeah. My skin is far from perfect. Here's what I know since my previous post. The entire rear curved section above the mid pin stripe has already been stripped, but for some reason no one protected it, so it has badly oxidized. I suspected this, but the fact that the Citristrip never crystallized prefer much confirmed it.

Also, the mid level area just beneath the mid level pin stripe used to have a badly damaged decal wrap. A PO tried to remove it leaving behind scratches, a lot of old nasty looking adhesive and I'm guessing, UV damage. A few years ago I tediously removed the old adhesive with denatured alcohol mineral spirits and plastic scrapers add ing a few additional scratches of my own.

On the front and back domes there are multiple PO member number and medallion ghost impressions.

I'm wondering if Cameo or Barkeepers friend and a scotchbrite pad would remove these ghost impressions and some of the oxidation or is there a better way?

Anyway, what I'm taking a long time too say is the skin is not without scratches and flaws, so... there may be polishing in my future.

It got dark on me today, but I'll post some more pics tomorrow.



Pete

[AlinCal]

Nyalac has a product that works pretty well on the oxidation but once the aluminum mill finish is scratched or otherwise there is no going back. I tried every grade of scotchbrite and lots of other things I would be afraid to admit with limited success. You can almost get a reasonable look with the lighter grades of scotchbrite but to make it consistent over a large area is not possible by hand.
And those darn decals and stickers are a nightmare, the blue stripe on mine was only completely removed by compound polishing and several passes at that.
Sounds like your going to be polishing too.

I like your work site, looks like a nice place to camp!

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by AlinCal

Nyalac has a product that works pretty well on the oxidation but once the aluminum mill finish is scratched or otherwise there is no going back. I tried every grade of scotchbrite and lots of other things I would be afraid to admit with limited success. You can almost get a reasonable look with the lighter grades of scotchbrite but to make it consistent over a large area is not possible by hand.
And those darn decals and stickers are a nightmare, the blue stripe on mine was only completely removed by compound polishing and several passes at that.
Sounds like your going to be polishing too.

I like your work site, looks like a nice place to camp!

I'm familiar with Nyalac. I've visited their site and if it works as good as their pictures portray then I believe I will use it after I polish. Did I just say polish? Yeah, pretty sure it's necessary.

As for our work site. We're in Thornburg, VA at a member owned and managed campground named Indian Acres. As a campground it's a complete disaster. We've visited several Member owned Airstream parks and the difference is night and day.

We own two adjoining lots here. One my parents purchased in 1969 when I was 17 (65 now) and the second was given to me for $10.00 in 2007, by a women who bought it at the same time as my parents, and just wanted to get out from under the annual dues.

Unfortunately, the parks overall maintenance is very poor. Paying members are low (out of 4,045 original sites I'd say fewer than half still have active members) and there is poor security, and no sewer on site, 30 amp electric and water only. We use a tote to haul our black water to a dump station up the hill from us and let our gray water drip.

The good part is that Indian Acres is 802 acres in size and our lots are on the back side of the property, heavily wooded with deciduous trees, about 30 feet above a small river which is part of the Indian Acres property line. On the opposite side of the river is a hunting preserve, so I don't believe it will ever be developed. Basically we are almost by ourselves back here, which is great.

Pete

[Re-Pete]

We got some good work done yesterday. We masked and stripped the entire body. We still have some stubborn areas to touch up, but today was a rest day after putting in about 10 full hours yesterday.

[Bill M.]

Before you commit to a polish you might try Metal-polish or Aluma polish on a small area. It will remove some of the oxidation. Outdoors mart and Airstream sell one or the other. I ended up stripping, doing a light rub with the polish, and coating with the Nylaic. I could not get that ghosting from the blue stripes or the numbers and decals out. I decided I would rather just live with it than to polish a dinged up,trailer that is not really vintage.

[harryk]

I stripped my 93 excella classic...I removed the blue stripe decals and the aluminum underneath was corroded...wet sanding & heavy automotive compound via buffer fixed it. Decided not to put stripe back & am glad I do not have to deal with that item separately anymore. Also, trailer looks younger without that stripe.

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by Bill M.

Before you commit to a polish you might try Metal-polish or Aluma polish on a small area. It will remove some of the oxidation. Outdoors mart and Airstream sell one or the other. I ended up stripping, doing a light rub with the polish, and coating with the Nylaic. I could not get that ghosting from the blue stripes or the numbers and decals out. I decided I would rather just live with it than to polish a dinged up,trailer that is not really vintage.

Yeah, I'm still on the fence, but definitely leaning toward polishing. Mostly I haven't liked the look of the failing clear coat. My AS body is in pretty good shape. There is a small crease type dent on the street side of the rear cap, but I'm pretty sure it can be sure it can be fixed with paintless dent repair techniques. It's not bad enough that I'm very concerned though. My biggest concern is getting rid of the ghosting caused by the old stripe and WBCCI number and medallion. I removed most the ghosting on the rear cap using a green scotchbrite pad and cameo powder (same as Bar Keepers Friend). The cap was very oxidized, this worked and didn't seen to cause damage. It actually brightened up the middle section of the cap which is what I worked on.

Pete

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by harryk

I stripped my 93 excella classic...I removed the blue stripe decals and the aluminum underneath was corroded...wet sanding & heavy automotive compound via buffer fixed it. Decided not to put stripe back & am glad I do not have to deal with that item separately anymore. Also, trailer looks younger without that stripe.

I certainly hear you about the decal ghosting. The last PO tried to remove the failing stripes, but found it to difficult and left most of the old adhesive in place. That browned and looked really bad. I got most it off with a lot of trial and error and elbow grease. Still have the ghosting. What grit paper did you use in the wet sanding? Did you use a power tool? I'd appreciate some additional detail. I also agree with your decision to not replace the decals. That's been my decision as well, especially if I polish.

Pete

[harryk]

I do not remember what the wet sandpaper grade was because I did my buying at a automotive paint wholesale supply and just did what they said...wetter the better...and it got rid of the tiny pits in the aluminum...this removed a tiny bit of aluminum because the wet sandpaper was always black...then heavy automotive compound and finally polish. I did use a harbor freight cheap 90 deg. buffer for everything except sanding.

[harryk]

On removing the old #s...after removing the red, there was still glue...more stripper ! (I stripped the entire trailer) Then heavy automotive compound on a buffer. The stuff flies all over and makes a mess but is easily removed with warm water with a little dishwashing soap and a fine scotch rubbing pad...

[Re-Pete]

This was suppose to post yesterday, then my phone blinked closing all my apps and I thought I lost it. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was saved in drafts. It originally included some pictures, but I'm now getting a message that I'm not allowed to post images in this forum. Not sure what that's about.

So, it rained most of today and as mentioned earlier, we're in the woods on a rustic lot. In other words we're parked on dirt beneath some pretty tall trees. Needless to say, it gets a bit muddy when it rains plus the rain and wind cause all kinds of stuff too fall out of the trees towering above us. Leaves and dirt balls for one and dead branches and limbs being the most dangerous. Anyway, for all of the above reasons we didn't get much done outside today.

Finally, late this afternoon the rain and subsequent dripping ceased and I was able to do some testing on some of the remaining stripe decal adhesive. No longer worried about The clear coat I tried acetone and I'm pleased to report that acetone works quite well.

Using only acetone and white cotton work towels, that are available at Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc., I was able to rub off the old adhesive. It's still time consuming and it requires a lot of acetone, as it evaporates quickly, a bit of elbow grease and constantly changing to a clean section on the towel. Once it absorbs the adhesive it's useless.

Consequently, I'm going through acetone and towels pretty quickly for the amount of striping I'm removing. I used about four towels and a half pint of acetone to remove 3' of striping. Still it's doing a fantastic job. Better than anything else I've tried and with no scratches since I'm not using even a plastic scraper.

Today July 30, we talked stripper to spots that did not come off on Thursday. Waited until even the last area had been on for 2.5 hours. This was mostly successful, with some places such as the front curved panels behind the stainless steel rock guards needing still another coat. Not sure why they are so stubborn. Also, the trim around the front bay windows. I also need to learn how to remove the awnings, they are definitely in the way and will be more so when polishing.

[Re-Pete]

Here are a few pictures and notations from the past few days of the progress:

The curb side and front end cap covered with Citristrip.

Attachment 1 We had pretty good success, but as you can see not all of the clear coat came off. tomorrow we should have some great weather and we hope to get the stripping completed.

Below are some areas I removed striping adhesive with acetone. The first picture is a before on the street side it has a bit of glare, the second, the "after" shows where I removed about 4 inches of the stripe adhesive. Then the third picture shows the curb side where I removed the entire stripe adhesive from the rear awning arm to the left taillight.

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by Bill M.

Before you commit to a polish you might try Metal-polish or Aluma polish on a small area. It will remove some of the oxidation. Outdoors mart and Airstream sell one or the other. I ended up stripping, doing a light rub with the polish, and coating with the Nylaic. I could not get that ghosting from the blue stripes or the numbers and decals out. I decided I would rather just live with it than to polish a dinged up,trailer that is not really vintage.

Hi Bill M, Are the Metal-polish and the Aluma polish, just polishes poor do they provide some cutting as well? Are you willing to share a bit more about your Nyalic experience. Was it a good one? How did you apply it? How long between re-coats? Any other finish maintenance required with the Nyalic?

Pete

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by harryk

On removing the old #s...after removing the red, there was still glue...more stripper ! (I stripped the entire trailer) Then heavy automotive compound on a buffer. The stuff flies all over and makes a mess but is easily removed with warm water with a little dishwashing soap and a fine scotch rubbing pad...

HarryK, Curious if you did a high polish or did you just get it back to a nice finish? You mention the Scotch rubbing pad, do you remember what color you used?

Thanks
Pete

[harryk]

The stripe that you are covering with tape needs to be stripped too, as it has clearcoat. Some areas are harder to remove than others. The window with the residual clearcoat needs another coat of stripper...some of my window areas took 3 & 4 coats to finally get it all. I used " Tough Strip" that I got from Lowes & Home Depot has it to. It is stronger than Citri Strip. I used it on the glue under the decals too. I used over 2 gallons for my 25. Even wearing rubber gloves, you will feel the burn of the tough strip. And I removed all the emblems and stripped underneath & the emblems themselves. I did not paint the emblems either...they look fine as is.

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by harryk

The stripe that you are covering with tape needs to be stripped too, as it has clearcoat. Some areas are harder to remove than others. The window with the residual clearcoat needs another coat of stripper...some of my window areas took 3 & 4 coats to finally get it all. I used " Tough Strip" that I got from Lowes & Home Depot has it to. It is stronger than Citri Strip. I used it on the glue under the decals too. I used over 2 gallons for my 25. Even wearing rubber gloves, you will feel the burn of the tough strip. And I removed all the emblems and stripped underneath & the emblems themselves. I did not paint the emblems either...they look fine as is.

Ahh, the voice of experience, hahaha. You are exactly right. Hadn't seen your post yet, but I removed emblems yesterday and.pulled off a lot of the tape which allowed me to discover exactly what you said in your post. The rub trim was partially stripped as it most likely got past the tape when I rinsed. I also discovered that I should have pulled all of that tape immediately after my first strip. The stripper got to my taillights from the rinsing, I'm sure, and discolored my lenses. Stupid, I should have known better than to leave it on. Oh well, never told to learn a lesson. [emoji12]

As for the window trim especially my front windows it's been slow going. I finally discovered that using the Citristrip, after waiting for 15 to 20 minutes I can take a small stiff plastic bristle cleaning brush and scrub that old finish loose. Then brushing it again with some mineral spirits and following with a towel soaked with mineral spirits it comes right off. Thought about a stronger stripper, but so far the Citristrip has been getting it done with a helping of elbow grease. [emoji1]

Surprisingly the other tough area has been the front quarter panels, behind the s.s. stone guards. I'll re-strip them again tomorrow. Luckily yesterday and today were mild and low humidity. Tomorrow will be hotter, but still not to humid or so the weather man says.

So, with the rub rails, did you find that it was necessary to remove the blue plastic inserts or did they fair okay. Some of mine is brand new and it's all in like new condition, so I'd liked to keep them that way.

Pete

[dianalynn]

I always use "Goo-gone", to get adhesive off. It doesn't evaporate like acetone.
Works great.

[Re-Pete]

Originally Posted by dianalynn

I always use "Goo-gone", to get adhesive off. It doesn't evaporate like acetone.
Works great.

You know, normally I'd agree, but Goo-Gone was one of the first things I tried and it did not work well on this problem.

Thanks for your suggestion.